JENNIFER R. HAMMARLUND

Derek Green remembers back when Jennifer R. Hammarlund was a candidate for her first role with National City Bank.

“We couldn't get her in fast enough,” recalled Mr. Green, who today is executive vice president and chief credit officer for the bank, now PNC. “Boy, did she take the reins. It's one thing to be identified early as a high potential; it's another to fulfill it, and she did it.”

Ms. Hammarlund is in her 12th year with the bank and in her 10th role. And that's exactly what she desired to do: Lay roots and climb a corporation's branches.

A chance meeting at a Chicago career fair planted the seed. There, the Wisconsin native first learned of and interviewed with National City. In 1999, Ms. Hammarlund joined the bank.

“If you would have told my husband and me 15 years ago that we would accomplish so much, we would have had no concept,” said Ms. Hammarlund, 39.

Ms. Hammarlund began her National City/PNC career in a training program; over the years, she has worked in loan syndications, investor relations and risk management. Named a senior vice president in 2006, she was heavily involved in facilitating in 2009 the transition for the credit team after PNC's December 2008 acquisition of National City.

Ms. Hammarlund possesses the “it factor,” Mr. Green said.

“She's had a very rapid, highly visible career,” he said, noting her work in investor relations. “As you know, visibility is a dual-edged sword. She has handled everything with a lot of class.”

Ms. Hammarlund graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and later obtained her MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park. She lives in Rocky River with her husband and college sweetheart, Michael, and their 14-year-old daughter, 8-year-old son, 4-year-old daughter, a yellow lab and an orange cat. They also have a 20-year-old son.

“I take my role as a mother and a wife very seriously,” Ms. Hammarlund said.

“When I think about the four walls of my home and the people in it, that's my sanctuary,” she said.

“The world can have its ups and downs, companies have good and bad fortune. Family is where you always come back to.”